Food industry & Track and Trace solutions: How to increase product safety in a greenfield project

Track and trace is a system that enables manufacturers to monitor and record the movement of products throughout the supply chain.  

Track and trace solutions have long been a critical component in the pharmaceutical industry. They ensure product authenticity, regulatory compliance, and patient safety. However, the food industry presents an entirely different set of challenges.

For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, it helps track individual drug packages to prevent counterfeiting, while in the food industry, it ensures that contaminated batches, such as tainted dairy products, can be quickly identified and removed from the market.

This case study explores how Enlight Engineering integrated track and trace technology in the food industry. These projects were realized in cooperation with Laetus, a world-leading provider of powerful solutions for Vision Inspection as well as Track and Trace, working closely with Leatus’ clients and getting familiar with the problems they face both in the market and in production.  

In this text, we will talk about the challenges and the solutions we implemented in the biggest project we worked on through Laetus.  This project was a syrup production facility based in China of a multinational food and drink processing corporation.  

Challenges

Unlike pharmaceuticals, where precision and traceability are paramount, the food industry is characterized by high production volumes, diverse packaging formats, and tight deadlines because the products have a limited shelf life.  

Some general challenges in food industry’s track and trace include:

• Food manufacturers must maintain continuous production flow: Any downtime significantly reduces output, leading to financial losses. ‍
• The packaging and production line are exposed to various external factors such as dust, moisture and temperature variations. ‍
• Food products come in a wide range of packaging types and sizes, from small sachets to large containers, making it hard to ensure consistent printing, scanning, and tracking across all formats.
• ‍Many food products have a strict time limit before they must be discarded.

Specifically in this greenfield project in China, we had various challenges. Building a manufacturing facility from the ground up comes with a unique set of technical and logistical challenges. We weren’t just dealing with software - we were part of a much broader transformation that required collaboration, flexibility, and on-the-ground problem-solving.

Here are some of the challenges we had and consequent requirements for the project:  

• Integration with external robot manufacturers

• Distance and coordination with remote teams : With the factory located far from our development team, real-time communication and rapid issue resolution became more complex. Much of the work required remote collaboration with teams on-site, which demanded a high level of documentation, planning, and responsiveness to ensure smooth execution despite the physical distance.

• Building the entire factory from scratch - they needed to establish a way to implement serialization

• On-site safety risks: visiting the line or construction site often meant physically securing yourself to avoid injury and strictly following safety protocols  

• Server migrations and a range of standard maintenance tasks also had to be handled along the way: In parallel with development and integration, we also managed server migrations and classic system maintenance tasks. These included bug fixes, updates, and long-term support—ensuring the system remained stable and reliable as new components were added and the factory scaled up.

Solution

The syrup production facility in China presented a unique opportunity for us to implement an advanced T&T system from the ground up. Starting from serialization, our solutions expanded to other aspects of production in this facility.  

Here’s a quick overview of what we covered:  

End-to-end serialization

Every unit of production, from individual bottles to bulk packaging and pallets, was assigned a unique identifier. In this way, a product is tracked at every stage—from production and packaging to distribution and sale. So, manufacturers always know where it is, where it came from, and where it's going.

Multi-layered tracking

• Unit-level: Serialization of individual syrup bottles.
• Packaging-level: Tracking of primary (plastic or foil wrapping) and secondary (carton boxes) packaging.
• Pallet-level: Aggregation of products into pallets for efficient warehouse management.

Integration with robotic systems

Robotic arms carefully placed labeled products into cartons, and automated scanners verified that everything was correctly grouped and tracked (correct aggregation).

Real-time data communication

• Production orders management: Independent tracking for bottles, cartons, and pallets allowed flexible production control. ‍
• Integration with Level 4 systems: Easy communication with ERP systems which allows for accurate reporting, compliance and production planning.   ‍
• Reference pallet system: Dual-pallet loading, where one pallet serves as the reference for aggregation validation before shipment. Communication with the PLCs was required to ensure synchronization. Through the PLCs, information about what’s on the reference pallet was passed to Level 4, which is the higher system layer. Level 4 then communicated this data further, ensuring that the system knew exactly what was on each pallet. This facilitated the tracking and aggregation of product information across the entire process.

All of these aspects were covered with different software systems we have developed, adjusted and optimized over the years (precisely, since 2013). These systems primarily allowed for communication between different levels of the factory system. To read more about what our responsibilities are on each level in the factory system click here.

In the factory system, our developers are responsible for:

• Software maintenance
• Developing new features
• Customizing versions for certain Laetus customers
• Installation on servers
• Support in the software testing processes
• Support on fixing the errors in the client’s system

Testing

The first one was the FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) during which the hardware and software would be treated as if they were in the environment they were built for - the factory. All of the components would be checked if they work properly and can perform certain actions that are required.

During the second stage, the SAT (Site Acceptance Test) the previous process (FAT) would be repeated, but this time in the factory.

Devices supported by the system:

Cameras:

• Cognex

Printers:

• Video jet (laser)
• Zebra
• Nice label
• Domino

Distribute IO Model:

• Siemens ET200

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Results & Benefits  

By implementing our track and trace software solutions, the client achieved various benefits. Here are the most important ones:

1. The product was safer.

Every bottle could be traced back to its production batch. in case of contamination or quality issues, it could be rapidly recalled.

2. Regulatory compliance.

The system met strict Chinese regulatory requirements for food traceability, preventing counterfeit products from entering the market.

3. The factory operations became more efficient.

Automated data collection reduced manual errors, minimized downtime, and improved production flow.

4. Transparency.

Scannable codes on each unit allowed instant verification of authenticity by inspectors and consumers. This meant brand protection and trust.  

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